Meet the Shaneyfelts

Harrison

When Your Sister is a Photographer: Harrison’s 4.5 Month Photos

My sister is a photographer and she just finished converting an extra bedroom in her home into a studio, so naturally, Harrison and I had to check it out 😜

I brought over three different outfits and we ended up putting Harrison in all three!  She took over 300 pictures, so these are just a few.  

And if you’re local to north Alabama, you must check her out!  She’s an excellent photographer!

Harrison is FOUR Months!!!

Harrison turns FOUR MONTHS today!!!  I literally cannot believe it!  Since my sister is an awesome photographer (check out her website here!!!), she came over and took Harrison’s 4 month pictures on his blanket and a few extras.  He got really excited talking so you’ll see all of those pictures at the end with his mouth open haha!

This month has brought so many changes with Harrison!  We’re starting to really see his personality more.  He’s really gotten into a groove with a schedule (for the most part), and obviously, he’s staying awake longer throughout the day.  He also learned how to roll from his tummy to his back this month!

The big thing this month was moving him out of the bassinet next to my side of the bed and into his crib (insert me crying).  He has done such a good job sleeping at night and napping during the day in his crib that he actually prefers napping in his crib during the day.  I tried getting him to take a nap on his boppy on my bed while I was getting ready one morning (like he used to do) and he fussed until I put him in his crib–where he immediately went to sleep!  It hurt my feelings a little that he preferred that haha!

He likes…
-babbling
-his play mat (and more specifically, the fox)
-his lovie bunny
-being able to see his Momma 
-his Daddy talking to him
-bath time
-sucking on his hands
-being held where he can see everything

He dislikes…
-being hungry
-wearing something that’s too big (I learned that the hard way ha)
-anything that interferes with his nap time 😂😂
-taking the bottle out of his mouth to burp him
You’ll notice in the rest of these pictures that Harrison isn’t looking at the camera–he’s looking at me!  I stood next to my sister and talked to Harrison to try to get him to smile, and instead, he “talked” back haha!

I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but I cannot get over the fact that God chose me to be Harrison’s momma.  Being his mother is more than I ever could have imagined it would be.  So many people tell us how blessed Harrison is to have us as his parents, but it’s really the other way around.  WE are so blessed to have him as our baby, and it’s only because of God that he is.  Dustin and I have just gone back and talked about how if this didn’t happen or that didn’t happen then we would never have been in the position to find out about Harrison.  And I just go back and think about in the days after the first birth mom changed her mind and decided to parent her baby, I was just devastated and angry, and my mom gave me a card with the verse “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).  I distinctly remember telling her, “Well, I feel like it is right now,” because I was in such a hurt place.  Not five days later did we receive pictures of the most beautiful newborn baby I had ever seen in my life–our son.  Oh, how I get chills thinking about how God was working even when I couldn’t believe it.

Okay, enough rambling…now onto pictures of Harrison!

Harrison’s Nursery Tour

I know it’s taken me (what feels like) forever to get around to sharing Harrison’s nursery, but that’s because it didn’t feel finished and it still doesn’t feel finished.  But I think it’s as good as it’s going to get right now!

Because we pursued adoption and knew that it could move quickly, I wanted to have a nursery ready as soon as possible.  I knew it would have to be gender neutral, and I found creating a gender neutral nursery much harder than I thought it would be.  I searched Pinterest for ideas and basically almost all gender neutral nurseries are either farmhouse style (which is not my style at all) or modern/minimalistic–again, not my style.  I knew I needed to come up with my own design–but on a budget 😁

My favorite color is blue so I decided I wanted really pale, pastel blue walls with all white furniture.  Then if we matched with a boy, it would be easy to style it for a boy, or if we matched with a girl, I would add in light pinks.

The first thing that went wrong was the paint.  I picked out a color from Sherwin Williams (can’t remember the name) and had them cut it down to 50%.  My mom helped me paint and when we opened up the can, it was the most beautiful shade of pale blue……until it dried on the walls.  It was so much darker than I had intended it to be.  We painted the first coat and decided I would sleep on whether or not I was going back to the paint store to get a lighter shade.  I ended up deciding to keep the color and figured I would repaint if we were matched with a girl.

Because I was on a strict budget, I didn’t want to buy a cheaply made glider that wouldn’t last long and we weren’t in the place to spend a lot of money on a quality one.  I found the one we have at my friend’s consignment sale and it was custom from a very expensive local baby store.  The only problem–it was gray…..a color I don’t like.  I think I sat in the glider for 30 minutes contemplating whether or not I should buy it.  It was excellent quality at a good price but it was a color I hated and didn’t want in the nursery.  I ended up buying it, and I’m glad I did because it’s so comfortable and doesn’t look bad in his room.

That’s a little background before seeing his nursery.  Like I said, it’s not finished–I probably want to add shelves on either side of his window–but I am ready to share it.

Come on in!
 This is the view from the doorway.  I’d like to have a rug, but that’s low on the priority list.


 Pictures are from Harrison’s 2 week session when my sister drove to San Antonio to take his pictures!


 We announced our adoption holding a gown with a lamb on it, so a lamb felt symbolic!


 I had to include the top left picture because Harrison was crying during pictures and he’s holding Dustin’s finger.


I’ve got to add pictures in those frames!